Zendaya, Bad Bunny and a Threat of a Picket Line at the 2024 Met Gala

On Monday night, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will play host to one of the biggest fund-raising events and starriest parties of the year: the annual Costume Institute Benefit or, as it’s been known for years, the Met Gala.

The event, which raises millions of dollars for the museum’s self-funding fashion wing, has become known for its audacious red carpet, with a highly exclusive guest list handpicked by Anna Wintour, the longtime Vogue editor and Condé Nast executive.

But this year’s event has been unusually shadowed by drama. The union representing employees of Condé Nast publications including Bon Appétit, GQ, Vanity Fair and Vogue escalated the stakes in its long-running contract negotiations on Saturday, telling the company in a video posted on X that if management didn’t meet the union at the bargaining table, its members would “meet you at the Met,” setting up the possibility of a picket line during Vogue’s biggest night. A representative from the New York Police Department said that there were no street closures planned and that the police would have “an adequate security deployment.”

Under Ms. Wintour’s leadership, the Met Gala has increasingly opened its arms to tech leaders — and its palms to their sponsorship — including Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook in past galas. This year, Shou Chew, the chief executive of TikTok, the primary sponsor of the Costume Institute’s exhibition this spring, was named an honorary chair of the gala. In the weeks since that announcement, Mr. Chew has been summoned to appear before a congressional committee, and the company’s Chinese owner has been told that TikTok will be banned in the United States if it is not sold within nine months.